Shadow and Crystal 2005
by Anonymous R
Summary: After the ARK incident, Shadow accepts his fate as he falls to earth and is ready to die... However, he somehow survives and lands in a faroff mountain range. There, he meets a girl with as deep and mysterious a past as his own...
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

"Maria... this is what you wanted, right...?"Shadow whimpered under his breath as he plummeted towards the blue planet below, tears forming in his eyes. "This is my promise I made to you..."

There was nothing more he had to do. The dark hedgehog had completed his life's mission, and he could finally drift off into the comforting arms of death and rest in peace... that is, if he could die.

Well, of course Shadow wouldn't live through it. Nothing would. It made absolutely no sense, right? ...But, come to think of it, nothing really made sense anymore. Everything Shadow had experienced through the recent days past made no sense at all; the possibility of fake memories, the fake emerald, the blue hedgehog, everything... But that didn't matter now. Nothing mattered anymore, and that was that-

Shadow gasped and cried out at the feel of the friction burning away at his skin, like the queezy feeling you get when you scratch your nails against a chalkboard. The feeling that makes one's stomach churn for what seems like forever. It was so unbearable, but the dark hedgehog simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

It will all be over soon, he reassured himself, tears of blood now running down his searing red cheeks. Yes, it will all be over soon...

The friction continued growing more and more, the pain growing with it. Shadow could only open his eyes just slightly, and all he saw were flames. Burning red flames, red like blood... blood of all the innocents that had been spilled that night over 50 years ago...

No! Don't think about that, he screamed mentally. It will only make things worse!

Then everything went black. The flames were gone, the pain had ceased, and nothing mattered anymore. He was at peace...

Crystal sighed softly as she leaned against a pine tree in her front yard, her faithful chao Francois sitting on her lap and eating a cookie. Life in the mountains was usually quiet and peaceful, but now it was getting to be boring. The lake had been frozen for weeks, all trees except the pines were completely bare, and plain, white snow covered the ground. 

The freezing cold didn't bother the albino furred hedgehog, though. She was used to it, and had been for all her life. In fact, she found it very refreshing to sit in the snow on a cold winter day and just relax. You see, Crystal was born in a small hedgehog village not too far away, and curiously enough they all had snowy white fur and sapphire blue eyes; every single one of them.  
Being the runt of the children in the village, she was constantly picked on and teased because she always stood half as high as the others. She was very tiny, and very vulnerable, but somehow made it through without many problems. However, even when she grew to adulthood, the others would still tease her because she stood half as high as everybody else. It eventually got so bad that some of them would try pushing her off of the cliff that the village stood over and into the icy chasm below. Barely escaping with her life when that happened, she quickly left for a safe home by herself, not even bothering to say goodbye to her friends and loved ones. Crystal now lived alone just a few hundred miles from a mountain climbing trail, and intended to keep it that way-

BOOM!

Crystal jerked forward at the sound of an explosion as the ground shook mercilessly, sending Francois flying from her lap and into the freezing snow.

"What's going on!"the little brown chao squealed as he poked his head out of the snow, shivering from the cold.

Not even bothering to answer, Crystal dove for her small companion, curled up around him with her spines sticking out in all directions and stayed there, trees falling all around them. She could only listen and hope nothing would fall on them, but the quaking stopped almost as fast as it had begun. All was silent...

...Is it over already? Crystal wondered to herself as she slowly uncurled and looked around, everything covered in ash, including herself.

"I'm scared..."Francois cried as he clung to Crystal's shirt, trembling in fear.

Crystal could only hug the terrified little chao, completely speechless and unable to provide any verbal comfort as her mind twisted with questions.

After a few minutes of dusting off and relaxing, the albino hedgehog was able to speak, but did not. She simply got up and walked through the grey stained snow to the source of the explosion. What could that have been? Crystal asked herself. How did it happen? Who caused it?

The rocks were very slippery as Crystal climbed down to the bottom of the ravine, especially with now black snow covering them, but she was used to it. Slippery rock climbing was always fun, no matter how dangerous. The extra fun part of it this time was that she was looking for something, and she wouldnâ€™t stop till she found it.

Finally, she made it to the bottom. It was freezing, even enough to make the albino hedgehog shiver, the snow was black as night, and dust and smoke was blocking out the sun. The only sounds were that of the wind blowing faintly... and a voice. The softest of voices that flowed like fresh spring water, yet so strong and rough like the rocks on the walls of the ravine; nothing like Crystal had ever heard.

Finally able to gather the courage to speak, Crystal called out, "HELLO? IS ANYBODY THERE?"

The only response was a soft groan from the same voice.

She quickly ran to the voice, not wasting any time and looked around. At first she saw nothing, but she then saw something move in the dust. Crystal cautiously crept towards it, and saw it move again. She backed up a bit, but then resumed approaching, and she saw it.

An ebony black hedgehog, with crimson red stripes on his spines and blood stains all over his body, patches of bare skin everywhere on his face, and his muzzle charred black.

TBC...


	2. Adjusting

Chapter 1

For what seemed like forever, Shadow sat motionless in the darkness that had overcome him during the fall... He didn't know if he was still alive or if it had killed him; he really didn't care either. If he were dead, this had to be heaven... He no longer had to care about anything, he no longer had to worry or think. The ebony hedgehog could just lay in the darkness peacefully, for the rest of eternity- SSSST!

"OW! Son of a bitch!"Shadow cried painfully as he jerked awake, still finding himself in complete darkness. Where was he?... With shaking hands, he felt his surroundings. The first thing he felt was searing hot water all around his body up to his neck. Feeling around a bit more, the dark hedgehog felt smooth porcelain under his bottom and head... A bathtub?

Then Shadow felt a pair of small, cold hands rub his body down, charred skin and fur flaking away like dandruff.

"Shut up,"said a stern, commanding voice, "If you struggle, you'll only make it hurt more."

Sighing, Shadow lay back in the tub and let his captor do what she wished. There really was no point in fighting, though it wouldn't be unreasonable to note that he didn't care much for her tone.

"Hmmm... let's take a look at your eyes."the girl said, pulling a dark bandage away from Shadow's bloodshot eyes. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Blinking a few times, the dark hedgehog looked at the hand she was holding up and saw three extremely blurry fingers. "...Three."

"Good. Your eyes are healing well."the girl said, taking a rag and scrubbing his muzzle.

Reaching up to rub his eyes, Shadow got a good look at this stranger. To say her demeanor betrayed her size would be an understatement; standing beside the tub was a small white hedgehog with patches of black filth here and there, barely able to see over the edge of the tub. At first Shadow thought she was a child, but upon further inspection, it became obvious that she was not. She was much too... well, round to be a child.

"What are you staring at, bub?" the stranger questioned, noticing Shadow's staring. "Enjoying the view?"

He blinked at this question. The view? "Erm... No, not particularly."

"Good, and make sure it stays that way. So what's your story, bub?"she questioned further, setting down the rag and rinsing away the debris on Shadow's muzzle. "I don't know where you come from, but it's not an everyday occurrence around here for a man to just up and fall out of the sky... And live."

"So you have men fall out of the sky and die on a regular basis?" Shadow chuckled lightly at this thought. How funny... "Anyway, I am Shadow. As for why I fell from the sky, let's just say I had an... unfortunate accident."

"Shadow, huh? No last name? Well, my name is Crystal. Not Crys, Crysty, or any of that other garbage. Just Crystal."

Nodding quietly in agreement, Shadow started to wonder. "Do you live alone, Crystal?"

"Certainly not! I have my chao to keep me company."

Chao? Why would anybody ever want to live with a chao? I mean, sure, they were kind of cute, but why live with one? All they did was suck up resources, which was something Shadow never had to offer in the first place. Deciding to go with his instincts, the dark hedgehog didn't question it any further. The last thing he needed was to offend a woman, especially this one.

"So, where am I?"he asked curiously.

"Nowhere,"Crystal replied as she drained the tub and went to the sink to retrieve a bucket of water. "I'm the only one around here for hundreds of miles. Closest thing to civilization you'll find is my old village at the base of the mountain clear over at the north end of the range, though I personally wouldn't call it civilized."

"Oh? How come?"

"I'd rather not go into it, but let me put it this way: the inhabitants might as well be like the wolves here – cruel, backstabbing barbarians."

Again Shadow decided it wouldn't be wise to question further, though he couldn't help having a certain sense of curiosity. What was with this girl? She was such a little firecracker – even Rouge didn't quite compare, and that's saying something. What could possibly make her act this way?

"...I see you're surprised," Crystal commented as she yanked him out of the tub, dried him off, and dragged him out into the hall. His expression said it all. "You have to be tough when you live the way I do. There are no breaks in this kind of life; either you suck it up and do what you must, or you die."

Shadow nodded as she dragged him into the room down the hall, now understanding a bit more... Though, he honestly had no idea the lengths this little hedgehog had to go to survive–he'd find out soon enough.

After dragging the dark hedgehog into the spare room, Crystal helped him into the bed and put him under the covers, then turned to leave. "I'll be back in a few with some buzzard soup."

"...Buzzard?" Shadow repeated. He'd had chicken soup once before, but buzzard? Didn't sound too appetizing.

"Yes–buzzard. You can either eat it or you can starve. It's all there is this time of year."

As Crystal left the room, Shadow began to ponder his situation. Was it a good thing that he had survived the fall? It sure didn't seem like it. What would the dark hedgehog do now? His purpose had been fulfilled; he had nothing left to do. In all honesty, Shadow just wished he'd been killed during the fall. Why? Because he was now right back where he'd started. Wandering aimlessly, wondering what his purpose really was now... Of course, maybe he'd get lucky again, and his new purpose would just come waltzing up for him to grab.

Almost as soon as she'd gone, Crystal came back with what she'd promised. Carefully, the little white hedgehog carried the bowl of soup to her guest and placed it on his blanket-protected lap.

"Be careful, Shadow," she warned. "It's hot as hell. You've got burns everywhere else; you don't need any in your mouth."

Shadow nodded in agreement, looking down at the so-called buzzard soup he'd been given. It actually looked quite similar to chicken soup, except the vegetables in it were a kind he couldn't identify. Perhaps they tasted similar as well?

Taking a spoonful and blowing on it gently, the dark hedgehog took a taste. Hmm! It did taste remarkably similar, right down to the bits of meat. As for the strange vegetables, Shadow still couldn't quite place the name of them, but they tasted somewhat like onions. All in all, he was pleasantly surprised.

"How is it?"Crystal inquired, sitting down on the floor.

"Surprisingly good," Shadow replied, trying not to splutter broth as he continuously spooned more of the soup in. "It tastes kind of like chicken... But what are these vegetables?"

"Leek."

At first, Shadow paused. Up until now, he'd hated leek. Disgusting things, they were... But now that they were in such a delicious soup, he no longer cared, and immediately resumed shoveling the soup down.

"Glad you're enjoying it," Crystal commented, chuckling. "You know, there's no need to pound it down like it's your last meal. There's plenty more."

"I'm sorry. It's been a while since I last ate," Shadow replied apologetically, holding out his empty bowl. "However, I would appreciate some more if it's not any trouble."

"Certainly not."

And once again, Shadow was left by himself to think. He certainly wasn't being the most polite of guests, but he was trying at least. Not that his host seemed to mind very much, but it still made the dark hedgehog feel a little guilty... Oh well. There would be plenty of time for improvement, as he would probably be stuck here for a long while.

After three more bowls of buzzard soup, Shadow had finally satisfied his hunger. Already it was dark outside, and it combined with his full tummy made Shadow feel a bit tired.

"Would it be all right if I went to sleep?" he asked politely, stifling a yawn.

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" Crystal replied, taking his bowl and covering him with an extra blanket. "You'll probably need this for a few nights until you adjust to the cold... Oh, and don't forget. You're having another bath first thing tomorrow morning."

"Very well."

Burrowing down into the covers to escape the cold, Shadow slowly drifted off to sleep. Sleep was the only way he could escape the tolerable but still agonizing pain he was experiencing; skin peeled at every move he made, and he couldn't even get up and walk on his own. Healing from these wounds, even for the Ultimate Life Form, would take some time...


End file.
